Many or most medical syringes nowadays are intended for single use only, and for disposal promptly thereafter, to guard against the possibility of contaminating a subsequent patient or a health care professional with the blood of any patient or with any residual medication in the syringe. Where a medication comprises radioactive material, special care must be taken to prevent not only leakage of blood or medication liquid from the syringe but also exposure of the surroundings to radiation.
Whereas collective disposal of used syringes with their needles and other "sharps" such as scalpels and stitch cutters is known, as in Haniff U.S. Pat. No. 4,657,139 and in McCarthy U.S. Pat. No. 5,273,221; the trend toward one-time usage is conducive to immediate individual disposal, for which packages are known, as in Clanton U.S. Pat. No. 4,979,616 and in Yates et al. U.S. Pat. No. 5,293,616. Such one-syringe packages are bulkier than containers known for new syringes, as in Windischman U.S. Pat. No. 4,106,622 and in Cuu U.S. Pat. No. 4,634,428; but packaging of new syringes does not include any provision for syringe disposal, so a new package is not convertible to a disposal package.
Yet a need exists for fluid leakproof disposal packages to hold individual used syringes, and a related need exists for radiation shielding in the packaging of such used syringes containing residues of radioactive medication. The present invention is directed toward meeting these and other related needs.